Senator likens trans identity to bestiality in court outburst

A Vermont Republican state senator made remarks on the Senate floor during debate on an animal cruelty bill. He questioned how courts would handle a scenario where an individual identifies as an animal and has sex with an animal. He also referenced Vermont’s passage of “Prop Four” and asked whether the proposed law would affect someone who identifies as a dog and has sex with a dog. A Democratic lawmaker responding to the debate said the bill would criminalize acts between a person and an animal involving contact with sexual organs, anus, or the mouth without a bona fide veterinary purpose. Democrats condemned the comments as dehumanizing and demanded an apology.

"In these crazy times, what happens if the individual identifies as an animal having intercourse with an animal? How is the courts going to handle that?"

"Being that we voted through Prop Four, and if it does make it through this state, and I have a gender identity that I identify as a dog and had sex with my dog, is this law going to affect me?"

"The bill that we are putting forward in the current law is quite clear that any act between a person and an animal that involves contact with the mouth, sex organ, or anus of the person, and the mouth, sex organ, or anus of the animal, without a bona fide veterinary purpose, will be a crime,"

"Sen. Heffernan is using the same dehumanising playbook that has been used against LGBTQ+ people for generations - the false, ugly suggestion that queer and trans identity is synonymous with deviance and harm. It was wrong then and it is wrong now."

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